


Kindred Spirits

by stellarparallax



Series: 300 Followers Celebration Fics [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Kuron is Shiro (Voltron)'s Clone, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2019-02-09 14:10:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12889566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellarparallax/pseuds/stellarparallax
Summary: When he first boarded the Castle of Lions, Lotor expected to to be regarded with a certain degree of suspicion. He had grown used to being doubted by both his superiors and underlings and saw no reason why Team Voltron would be any different. What he didn’t expect was that the short, pale man with shaggy, dark hair almost welcomed his presence. Lotor never once felt a hostile or aggressive vibe from him, and to an extent it bothered him.





	Kindred Spirits

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! To coincide with me almost reaching 300 followers on tumblr, I ran a poll asking which rarepair my followers would like me to write for. Keitor and Katt were tied for second place but I did Keitor first because I don’t have any ideas for Katt yet. If you voted for Keitor, I really hope you enjoy this!!

When he first boarded the Castle of Lions, Lotor expected to to be regarded with a certain degree of suspicion. He had grown used to being doubted by both his superiors and underlings and saw no reason why Team Voltron would be any different. What he didn’t expect was that the short, pale man with shaggy, dark hair almost welcomed his presence. Lotor never once felt a hostile or aggressive vibe from him, and to an extent it bothered him.

“We cannot go on shooting down the witch’s ships, hoping that they are not traps. We need to sit down and try to piece together what her ultimate goal is. That goes beyond just capturing or destroying Voltron.”

Lotor saw the man look at him with intrigue.

“The ultimate goal of the Galra Empire is for the rest of the universe to be subservient to them, while siphoning quintessence from their planets,” said the one whom he had been informed was Princess Allura.

“No, Allura, it’s more than that,” the shorter man spoke up for the first time during the meeting, “I can’t explain it, but I have a feeling. Besides, Lotor has probably lived in the Galra Empire his entire life. I think we can trust his instincts.”

“When have you ever trusted Lotor, Keith?” said the man in the Black Paladin armour.

“I just… I just feel it in my gut.”

“Very well, then. I think we should take some time off to think about the questions that Lotor has brought up. I declare this meeting adjourned,” the Black Paladin replied.

Almost instantly, Keith stood up and made his way towards the door of the meeting room. Even from the other end of the room, Lotor managed to catch up to him due to his significantly larger strides. He caught Keith’s arm right as he was about to pass through the doorway.

“Keith, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Could I… have a discussion regarding a few matters with you?”

Keith turned around to face him, narrowing his eyes as he stared up at Lotor. Keith tilted his head and glanced over at the rest of the attendees of the meeting, his eyes lingering on the Black Paladin. After what felt like an eternity, his gaze returned to Lotor.

“Sure. Let’s go up to the Observatory Deck.”

* * *

 

“If you are not a paladin, why do you visit every now and then?”

“I used to be the Red Paladin, then the Black Paladin. Now I’m a member of the Blade of Marmora. I represent them in these meetings, hence the uniform.”

“I have heard whispers about them, but I have never been able to find out what they do exactly.”

“Seeing that their existence is not exactly a secret anymore and you’re on our side now, I think I can give you the general idea. We perform infiltration missions to extract information about the Galra Empire. With the gathered information, we then predict what their next moves are likely to be.”

Lotor gave an impressed whistle, earning him a grin from Keith. “It sounds all James Bond, but it’s actually a lot more boring.”

“James Bond?”

“Ah… an Earth… movie thing.”

“Movie thing? That sounds fascinating.”

He couldn’t help but relish in the fact that his latest comment caused a blush to spread across Keith’s cheeks. Now that he was looking at him up close, Keith was pretty adorable.

“I can’t show you any clips of it so you’ll have to take my word for it when I say that our missions are more boring than those movies.”

“I believe you, Keith.”

Keith smiled shyly at him before turning away to walk towards the glass panes. He turned back to look at Lotor and smiled at him again.

“You know, it was always my dream to go to space. Back when I was in school, there was someone that I...”

“You…?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Keith, who am I going to tell?”

Keith looked at him with puppy dog eyes, as if he was expecting Lotor to lessen the distance between them. He wasn’t sure if that was what Keith wanted, but he decided to follow him anyway.

“I used to be really close to Shiro, the Black Paladin, until he had to go on a mission to Kerberos and was then captured by the Galra. I… I searched for him for almost a year and… he finally crashed back onto Earth, thanks to sleeper agents from the Blade. He’s still Shiro and I love him but he was never the same after that. Then there was the big fight with Zarkon that-” he paused and looked up at Lotor, wondering if the prince had heard about what happened.

“I’m aware of what occurred between my father and the Black Paladin.”

“Okay, well, he disappeared for a while after that...”

“Is that why your team did not truly function as a team for that short period of time?”

“Yes… So we finally found him and he’s still Shiro, but he’s just not… Shiro, you know?”

Lotor nodded, then averted his eyes.

“I still love him,” Keith was fighting back tears. “He’s not the person I knew back then anymore but I still love him.”

“I see,” Lotor muttered.

* * *

 

Lotor couldn’t put a finger on the feeling, but there was something odd about Shiro. He wondered if Keith had picked up on it yet. He knew that Keith ran on instincts, but he also knew that when emotions made their way into the picture even instincts could be compromised.  
He was just starting to feel comfortable around Keith and he wasn’t sure if he should discuss his suspicions with Keith at the risk of driving a wedge in their fledgling companionship.

“Lotor?”

Lotor looked up from where he was on the couch in the lounge of the Castle of Lions to see Keith standing right before him, dressed casually in a black tank top and sweatpants.

“Are you going to bed already? The last time I checked, it was still early evening. Either I have been sitting here for hours or you have the bedtime of an infant.”

“What? No, I just completed my regimen of Gladiator trainings. The showers are full. Mind if I join you while I wait for my turn?”

“Be my guest, young Marmorite,” he waved his hand towards the space to his right.

Lotor immediately went back to mulling over his dilemma regarding Shiro, but it was difficult to stay focused on his thoughts when he could feel Keith’s gaze burning holes into his side. He was almost afraid to turn and ask him exactly what it was he wanted to achieve from staring at him so hard.

“You’re… not full Galra, are you?” Keith finally spoke up.

“That is correct. I am half Galra and half Altean.”

“I… don’t know if you know, but I’m half Galra too.”

That caught Lotor’s attention. He spun around to face Keith.

“You are? Is the rest of you human?”

“As far as I know, yes. I’m not entirely sure. My mother left me as a child. I’m assuming that she’s who I got my Galra ancestry from.”

“That is fascinating. You know, now that you mentioned it that you are part Galra, you do have a lovely combination of features.”

He caught Keith’s cheek with his palm before he could turn away from him.

“And that blush you’re sporting right now is particularly endearing,” he said, gently stroking his cheek.

“Stop it,” Keith mumbled.

“Why? I believe that beauty should be admired and discussed at length. It is our best defence against hopelessness.”

“I’m hardly…”

“Yes, you are.”

* * *

 

“SHIRO, NO!”

Lotor jerked awake, his breath laboured. He waited in deafening silence, hoping that it would confirm that what he heard had just been a dream. Suddenly, he heard a strobing sound followed by a familiar voice. It was Keith’s. He was screaming.

“No, Shiro, please don’t do this,” Keith’s voice was cracking. It was pained enough to bring Lotor close to tears.

He jumped out of bed and ran out of his room, still out of his armour. It was probably not the ideal attire to prepare himself for the possibility of getting into a fight, but he definitely wasn’t going to wait to put on his armour. One tick too late and Keith would be dead.

When he finally found Keith in the hallway, he felt his vision blur and his knees go weak. Keith’s body was limp on the floor. He was clutching his side and breathing heavily.

“Keith? Keith? What happened?” he said, standing over Keith.

“Shiro,” he coughed, “Shiro’s eyes went bright yellow and…”

“She activated him,” Lotor breathed.

“What?”

“That man is not Shiro. She must have cloned him or brainwashed him or… something. She did something similar to one of my generals.”

Lotor crouched next to Keith, being careful not to come apart all together. With a trembling hand, he brushed back the hair that was sticking to Keith’s fringe.

“Tell me where she hurt you,” he said with the softest voice he could muster.

Keith exhaled sharply a few times, before eventually being reduced to a violently sobbing mess. He placed his right hand over his heart.  
Lotor released the breath that he didn’t realise he was holding. Then, he sat on the ground and pulled Keith’s upper body onto his lap, stroking his hair comfortingly.

“I know what that is like. You are not alone. You have me.”

Keith just kept crying.

“I know, I know. Let it out,” Lotor reassured him, hoping that in all the madness and confusion, Keith wouldn’t catch him crying too.

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, thank you for reading till the end! I would really appreciate it if you left kudos and comments!
> 
> Now for the people I need to thank:  
> @burnthoneyy for being such a pal, joining me in word sprints, helping to beta part of this fic, letting me bounce ideas off her,...  
> @anglmukhii for listening to me scream about keitor and keith and vld in general  
> @purposeofmymind for being super supportive of everything that I’ve done  
> @inkuisitivskins for being a literal ray of sunshine and always making my day brighter
> 
> And of course, thank you to all of my followers who stayed till the big 300, and everyone who voted in the poll!
> 
> You can yell at me @stellar-parallax on tumblr!


End file.
